Should MPs resign before entering a Nova Scotia municipal race?

When Halifax MP Andy Fillmore got up in the House of Commons last month to announce he was leaving federal politics, his resignation sounded “imminent” to Tom Urbaniak.

Urbaniak, a professor of political science at Cape Breton University, watched Fillmore talk at length on June 17 about what he’d achieved in his past nine years in Ottawa. Fillmore mentioned his work to reopen Georges Island to the public, and partnering with Halifax to stop infilling on the Northwest Arm.

Fillmore said the city’s rapid growth has brought benefits and challenges, adding his sights were set “firmly on the future.”

“He gave what was practically a campaign speech for the mayoralty of Halifax,” Urbaniak said in a recent interview.

“I thought that his resignation as member of Parliament was imminent. That speech sounded very final.”

A few weeks later, on July 2, Fillmore registered with Halifax Regional Municipality to run for mayor. He launched his campaign in front of a large crowd the next day.

But Fillmore has not yet resigned his seat. He continues to take a federal salary and work out of his riding office while also campaigning for mayor, and is eligible to collect donations for that race.

“What MP Fillmore has done is not illegal and is not in violation of a written code of conduct. But the optics aren’t great,” Urbaniak said.

He said because Fillmore signalled his federal career was over with that speech in Ottawa, it’s now a legitimate question to ask what MP work Fillmore continues to do — other than showing up for federal funding announcements, “which could be perceived as actually feeding a municipal campaign” on the taxpayers’ dime.

Fillmore delivered one of those funding announcements on behalf of the federal government at the Maritime Digital Art and Design studios on July 4.

He has also attended a number of community events outside his Halifax riding in recent weeks, including a South Indian festival in Dartmouth and one at an Eastern Shore museum, and has posted photos of himself knocking on doors in Sheet Harbour.

Although the province’s Municipal Elections Act states no member of the legislature or House of Commons can be nominated or serve in municipal office, Fillmore is technically not yet a nominee.

He’s said he will resign as MP before the municipal nomination period beginning Aug. 29. After Sept. 10, nominees are considered official candidates who will have their names placed on the ballot.

However, under Halifax’s campaign finance rules, people who register any time after March 1 as unofficial candidates can start collecting and spending money.

Municipal election day in Nova Scotia is Oct. 19.

Fillmore declined an interview request, but told CBC News in an email “the rules are clear” and he will resign as MP by Aug. 29.

“I will continue to fulfill all my duties as MP until I am confirmed by the municipal returning officer as an official candidate for mayor,” he wrote.

Some provinces, like Manitoba, make it illegal for a sitting MP, senator or MLA to run for municipal office. They would have to resign before any registration.

Ontario now has similar rules to Nova Scotia, but used to fall into the same camp as Manitoba. Back in 2000, Independent Ontario MP John Nunziata went to court over his fight to enter the Toronto mayoral race while keeping his federal seat, after the city rejected his nomination.

Urbaniak said the intent behind the rules has always been to separate federal and provincial politics from municipal campaigns.

The other high-profile candidates running against Fillmore, sitting councillors Waye Mason and Pam Lovelace, said they are at a disadvantage when campaigning against a sitting MP.

They noted Fillmore has access to paid government staff and his own office, as well as the red machine of the Liberal party and the connections that come with that. Halifax councillors can’t use any city hall spaces, or their HRM-issued phones or computers, for campaigning.

Lovelace said she wouldn’t “pretend” she could do one job effectively while striving to do another with a different set of responsibilities.

“I think ethically and morally that’s wrong,” she said.

In some ways it’s hard to split hairs about what’s campaigning and what’s the job as political representatives for all three candidates, Urbaniak noted, because going to community celebrations this summer could easily be both.

Urbaniak said it’s just as fair to question Mason and Lovelace as it is Fillmore, about where their focus is this summer between their current jobs and campaigning.

In some jurisdictions, he said councillors have resigned their seats to run. Recently Carolyn Parrish stepped down from her role as Mississauga councillor to run for mayor of the city, a race she won in June.

Mason said he’s making sure to prioritize his district, and work on the committees and boards of which he’s a member, while then turning to campaign mode on the weekends. 

Lovelace had a larger view of her responsibilities, and said her focus this summer is on the entire Halifax region as well as her own riding.

When asked if the Municipal Elections Act should be changed, a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs told CBC News in an email the current law “upholds the principle that representation is paramount.”

Besides Mason, Lovelace and Fillmore, six political newcomers are running for mayor as of Tuesday: Clay Bowser, Nolan Greenough, Ryan Dodge, Zoran Jokic, Andrew Goodsell and Blake Roache.